Today's Rundown

NBA

Do I sense a comeback? Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 112-97 to avoid elimination and send the series back to Cleveland for Game 6. Many (*ahem* Adidas) had written the Cavs off and already crowned the Warriors the champs, but Cavs stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were like not so fast. Each of them scored 41 points, becoming the first pair of teammates to each score 40+ points in an NBA Finals. Granted, this wasn’t exactly the same Warriors team we know and love. The Warriors were forced to play a super small lineup after center Andrew Bogut went out with a knee injury in the third quarter. They also didn’t have Draymond Green, who was automatically suspended and banned from the arena for the game, after he hit LeBron James in the groin during Game 4. Instead, he watched all the action from a luxury suite over at the Oakland A’s stadium next door. Who might not get invited to the Cavs after party? Cavs star Kevin Love scored only 2 points and looked just plain sad.

MLB

Go on. Take a swing. Last night, the Washington Nationals beat the team with the best record in the MLB—the Chicago Cubs, thanks to 11 strikeouts from ace Max Scherzer. The game also answered a big question: Will Nats star Bryce Harper actually get to swing at the ball? In May, the Cubs walked him 13 times to avoid a Harper at bat. A few critics called the Cubs out for playing “scared” baseball, but the Cubs were like, scared or smart? Afterwards, the Nationals made an adjustment to avoid the Harper-walk strategy, moving their best batter Daniel Murphy to the cleanup spot, right after Harper. It looks like the adjustment worked, because this time around the Cubs decided to actually pitch to Harper! Or maybe that’s because he’s been in a bit of a hitting slump lately and no longer a threat?

Seen and Heard

MLB

I wanna play too, please. Over the past couple of weeks San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (aka “MadBum”) has been trying to get into MLB’s All-Star Home Run Derby. Most pitchers would get laughed at (because they are usually terrible at bat), but MadBum actually has a pretty good case for participating. He’s hit 13 career home runs, the most of any active pitcher, and 11 of those were in the past 2 seasons. So far his boss the Giants GM has said haha, no, because he’s afraid MadBum will get hurt. But now pitchers Jake Arrieta (Chicago Cubs) and Adam Wainwright (St. Louis Cardinals) have said they want in on the action. Do we smell a pitchers-only home run derby a’cookin?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Is winning a virtue? A few key donors are pressuring Baylor’s Board of Regents to keep football coach Art Briles around. Last month, Baylor announced that they had suspended Briles with the intent to terminate him, after it was revealed that football personnel failed to take disciplinary action or report many acts of violence and sexual assaults committed by football players. Now, they may be singing a different tune because the guys that hold the purse-strings can’t get enough of that winning feeling on the field. So far Baylor’s interim president has said that the move to keep Briles is “unlikely.” Let’s hope so, or Waco might actually become the town from this Amy Schumer sketch. Not OK.